New ride-hailing app openly breaks NYC regulations

WNYC News | Feb 11

An illegal ride-hailing app keeps chipping away at Uber and Lyft’s chokehold on New York City’s for-hire vehicle industry.

The company, called Empower, markets itself as a pro-worker platform where drivers pay a $50 monthly fee to use the app. The driver can take home 100% of their fare, which they set themselves. The system leads to cheaper rides for passengers and higher wages for drivers, the company claims.

But Empower is facilitating those rides over the objection of the city Taxi and Limousine Commission, which set up a dedicated website warning New Yorkers not to use the app.

In order for an app-based ride to be legal in the five boroughs, the platform must register for a “base” with the TLC — a facility where cars are dispatched to passengers and operated by the company. Empower doesn’t have one.

The company is supposed to pay a $1,500 application fee to secure the base, and insure each of its vehicles.

WNYC is funded by sponsors and member donations

Top Stories From Gothamist

How to Avoid Sneaky Phishing Scams

WNYC has been targeted by scammers who posed as hosts and offered authors interviews -- for a fee (which WNYC would never do). Here's how to spot the scams and deal if you fall for it.
The Brian Lehrer Show |

Justice for Epstein Victims Through NYS

State Senator Zellnor Myrie about his bill that would allow survivors of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein to seek damages from the Epstein estate.
The Brian Lehrer Show |

New Doc Celebrates NYC's Weird and Wild Public Access TV Experiment

In the 1970s and '80s, NYC's gave independent creators a platform on broadcast television, in the form of Manhattan Cable TV, a network that aired un-censored programs without editori...
All Of It with Alison Stewart |
YOU ARE ONLINE